Camila Cabello strikes out on her own with solo debut album

Over the past year, Camila Cabello began her career as a solo artist after taking separate ways from her former band group, Fifth Harmony, back in Dec. 2016. Ever since the split, Cabello has pursued her passion for music on her own and has become one of the the world’s biggest pop stars with her hit single Havana and first debut album.

The 20-year-old singer released her first two singles last May—I Have Questions and Crying in the Club—which were rumored to be inspired from betrayal after her split from Fifth Harmony. Later in the summer, OMG and Havana were released; eventually Havana became a hit worldwide. Cabello reached a huge milestone when Havana became the longest running number one female single for the seventh week, which is currently at the top of the US pop radio charts.

For Cabello, 2017 was a year of evolution regarding her music and how she wanted to portray it. Her first debut album, The Hurting, the Healing, the Loving, was announced to be available in early September 2017 but many changes were made throughout the year. She announced that her debut album would no longer be available by then and instead released it in early 2018. Cabello explained the meaning behind changing her first title solo album into Camila in an Instagram post stating “It started with somebody’s else’s story, it ended with finding my way back to myself.”

Camila has been available since Jan. 12 and continues to be a true success. It became the first debut album by a female artist to ever reach number one on iTunes in 80 countries, eventually leading to 100—including all her 10 tracks charting in the top 100 of the global Spotify chart. So far, Camila debuts at number one on Billboard 200 albums chart as well as Havana being number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

Despite Cabello’s departure from Fifth Harmony and becoming a solo artist, she has managed to reach huge records over the past year and continues to stay true to her voice through her music.